This is an excellent new profile of Central Park which is the park we see as a model (for the Parkway) of innovative management.
The profile.
Central Park
Central Park is a world treasure, not just New York's. It ranks among the world's outstanding public places because of its influential original design -- and its current management.
The vision of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux has proven timeless: It is still highly suitable for today's park users. For example, Olmsted took great care to conceive the pathway and circulation system so that even today, pedestrians and vehicles can easily move through the park without major interference; the park's sunken transverses originally allowed carriages, and now cars, to cross the park unobtrusively. Pedestrian paths guide people through the park via various destinations, such as the Sailboat Pond, Belvedere Castle, and the Dairy; while vehicles are limited on several park roads during certain hours.
The Mall, a wide, tree-lined promenade, is a formal arcade, designed for stately strolls. In contrast, the heavily wooded Ramble creates a feeling of dense forest and seclusion. Open meadows give one a sense of natural expanse and have accommodated a few of the largest outdoor concerts in the country, including a Paul Simon concert that drew an estimated 600,000 fans in 1991. The park also plays host to 275 species of birds and sponsors a large group of avid birders.
The other factor that makes Central Park so extraordinary is its innovative management entity, the Central Park Conservancy. The Conservancy has developed measurable maintenance standards and guidelines (it is responsible for day-to-day maintenance of the park, among other things); established a zone gardeners program; and regulated vending in the park. It has also developed a range of activities, events and educational programs throughout the park, and an extensive volunteer program.
But a list of Central Park's features and events does little to capture Olmsted and Vaux's inspired achievement. According to Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, the park's foremost authority, "He [Olmsted] arranged sequences of visual events to climax in stunning vistas...Though every inch of Central Park was shaped and molded by machines and men; the hand of man is never obvious." Today we also see it as a series of destinations, each with multiple activities available during every season.
